Indian shares edged higher in volatile trade on Monday, helped by gains in banking stocks, while investors awaited a host of central bank meetings this week to gauge the impact of rate hikes on global economy.
The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) rose 0.7% to 17,649 as of 0455 GMT and the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) was up 0.6% at 59,208. Both the indexes lost over 1.5% last week.
Investors braced for a week littered with 13 central bank meetings that are certain to see borrowing costs rise across the globe and some risk of a super-sized hike in the United States.
“The entire market is focusing on U.S. Federal Reserve statement this week even though it has already discounted a 75 basis points rate hike,” said Prashanth Tapse, research analyst, Mehta Equities.
Markets will be looking at the Fed’s guidance for November, when another 75 basis points-hike is expected, Tapse said.
Despite Indian markets losing nearly 2% last week, foreign investors purchased a net $819 million worth of Indian equities, although they disposed of a net $258 million in the last two trading sessions, according to Refinitiv Eikon.
Data showed that tally for the month as of last close stood at $1.52 billion in net inflows.
Rate-sensitive bank shares were top gainers, with the bank Nifty index (.NSEBANK) rising 0.76%, while public sector bank index (.NIFTYPSU) jumped 2%.
Among individual stocks, Ambuja Cement (ABUJ.NS) and ACC (ACC.NS) rose 6.7% and 1.6%, respectively, after Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) completed its acquisition of companies and reconstituted their boards.
Shares of Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS) gained 2.5% after Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan agreed to buy a 30% stake for 23.71 billion Indian rupees ($297.5 million) in the Indian automaker renewable power assets.
Meanwhile, shares of Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS) rose 1.5% after India on Friday slashed taxes on domestic crude oil.
Source By: Reuters